Mom hosts celebration of life party after daughter's devastating diagnosis

Kaia Gray is only 7 years old, but she's fighting a battle many don't face in a lifetime. Doctors gave her only months to live after a brain cancer diagnosis.

Author:
Alex Livingston

Published:
10:36 PM MDT August 6, 2017

A little girl named Kaia is fighting the battle of her life after a devastating diagnosis that only gave her months to live.

"Around May 2nd we get a call that she had a tumor in her brain," said Kaia's mom, Shala Browning. "It was hard, there was a lot of anger a lot of wondering why and why her?"

When most kids Kaia's age are getting ready for the start of 2nd grade, she is receiving treatment.

"Two weeks ago she was laying in the hospital bed and we didn't know what was going to happen," Shala said.

Once the tumor was found in an MRI Kaia, underwent a 12-hour surgery.

"They were only able to get 25 percent of the tumor," Shala said. "There was enough poking out to the left that they were able to cut off which was causing her to go blind in her left eye."

She also lost hearing in her left ear and even had to learn to walk, run and climb again.

"It went from that to having blood clots in her brain and her lungs," said Shala.

Since doctors were unable to remove any more of her tumor they stated radiation.

"They had told us that she has 3 to 6 months to live and if we tried radiation that we may have a good six and she'd be herself," Shala said.

This summer, the Make-A-Wish Foundation sent Kaia and her family to Florida for six days, giving them a chance to live her dream, which included going to Disney World.

"Nobody has time to prepare for cancer, it just happens," Shala said. "We literally want to celebrate life."

That's exactly what they did on Saturday. Shala organized a celebration of life party and a fundraiser to raise awareness about brain cancer. The RAM in Boise prepared food and there were also games, live music and vendor booths.

Shala says at this point it's all about hoping for the best and making each day count.